This week, voters are keeping a close eye on all running candidates as the Democratic National Convention continues in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
While some Sanders supporters have been skeptical to migrate toward a new candidate, others had no issue making the move. Voters gathered outside Tuesday’s convention to spread awareness about third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.
Marc North, a former Bernie supporter from Maryland, says he has lost hope in the party he has supported for the past 20 years.
“I’m done with the Democrats. I have no more trust in the system,” he says. “We are all in trouble.” North plans on voting for Jill Stein in the fall because of her green, eco-friendly platform.
Some voters, however, aren’t ready to give up on Bernie – at least not yet. (Yes, they are well aware Sanders officially endorsed Clinton a week ago.) Justin Pikulski who made the trek from Massachusetts to Philadelphia says he “went through Hell and back” to make it to the convention.
Wearing a Bernie-themed Anonymous shirt, Pikulski says voters need to focus on “exposing corruption.”
And he believes people need to “wake up before the (government) collapses.”
Ray Alt, also from Massachusetts, says if he has the chance to vote for Bernie, he will. Alt believes voters should make their decisions based on their “conscience.”
Sandy Windmiller, a mother and Bernie supporter, says she will “absolutely not” be voting for Clinton come election day.
“Not even a snowball’s chance in hell,” she adds.
Windmiller plans on either writing in Bernie’s name or voting for Jill Stein – an option many Bernie supporters feel comfortable with.
“She embodies all of Bernie’s ideas, but even more so,” Windmiller says about the third-party candidate.
Zach Citara plans on writing in Bernie’s name, adding that he’ll never support Hillary Clinton.
“It’s like having a criminal for a President,” the 20-year-old from Pennsylvania says.
Speaking on the recent DNC email leaks, he says the situation in its entirety was “corruption at its finest.”
“They are looking for people who outed them and not the emails themselves,” Citara says. “We should first worry about the corruption in our country.”
The DNC email leaks remained a hot topic Tuesday inside and outside the convention center. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as DNC chairwoman and was even booed off stage while speaking to delegates at a DNC breakfast event in Florida.
Gina Compello says there’s nothing democratic about the DNC, especially amidst this controversy.
“It basically proves what everyone has been saying,” Compello says. “It’s breaking up the Democratic party.”